"As a psychological terrorist, he's someone who can plant an idea that's as vicious as a bomb and explode loyalties and expose relationships and try and turn people against one another to do his bidding," Cumberbatch explained to SFX.

"He really disrupts the unity aboard the ship, both physically and mentally. And he's a worthy adversary - there's a lot of shadowplay going on with him and Kirk and Spock, Kirk primarily, but both of those characters - he knows how to manipulate them."

The sequel's writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have described Harrison as "a dark shadow of members of [the Enterprise crew]".